Living with the Past, Creating a new Future
by TwoHeartedAlien
Summary: When Riven joins the League of Legends as a new champion, Katarina is surprised to find her former lover alive. Complications ensue when Riven begins to be interested in a new woman, Irelia. Will Riven stick to the lover of her past or find a new future with someone else? (Riven's POV)
1. Reliving the Past

Chapter 1: Reliving the Past

"Katarina, we-" Riven was cut off by Katarina forcing her torso onto the dining table face first. Riven had only been a champion of the League of Legends for three weeks now and living in the dormitories for even less than that, and when Katarina found out that Riven was actually alive after seven years she couldn't resist visiting.

"Be quiet, Exile." Riven felt Katarina's hand snake in front of her, undoing her belt and pants and yanking them down viciously. Katarina hadn't forgiven her for disappearing and letting her think Riven was dead, but still couldn't resist being near Riven after all this time try as she might.

"Katarina, this is…" Riven began to protest until she was interrupted by Katarina's finger rubbing on her clit. She moaned at her touch, feeling Katarina's other hand hold her in place on the table while she worked. She could feel Katarina's smirk without even looking at her. She had always loved being in control of her play things.

Riven gasped as she felt Katarina's fingers enter between her legs and let out a pathetic whimper at her touch. Katarina bit down on Riven's shoulder and she yelped in pain, she felt blood begin to flow from the wound inflicted on her. The assassin enjoyed marking her territory.

The fingers moving between her legs became more aggressive, leaving Riven gasping and moaning loudly. Riven cried out as she came for Katarina for the second time that week. Katarina withdrew her fingers but lingered behind Riven as she caught her breath. Riven pulled her pants back up, composing herself.

"Katarina, this is a dangerous game we're playing." She said breathlessly, looking at the red-headed assassin behind her. She turned to face her, waiting for a response, receiving only Katarina's normal arrogant smirk.

After a prolonged silence between the two women, Katarina finally spoke. "I'm not the one who should be afraid for their life, Exile." She snarled at Riven, as if the last few minutes hadn't just happened between them. Katarina turned to leave Riven's dorm room.

"What if Noxus finds out that you've been willingly seeing me like this for weeks? What if Noxus asks you to end my life?" The two women locked eyes. "Would you do it?" Riven asked.

Katarina scoffed and slammed Riven's door behind her. Katarina had never been good at dealing with her own emotions. Riven sat down on the edge of her bed, dragging the back of her hand along her forehead, removing the sweat. The assassin frustrated her, she wouldn't call her anything but 'Exile'as if she was going to take her back to Noxus, and yet her actions speak the opposite. Riven laid back on her bed, letting out a loud sigh.

When Riven was a member of the Noxian army, she and the assassin had been lovers. She figured Katarina couldn't tease her emotions apart. She certainly wasn't willing to speak to Riven about them or let Riven apologise to her.

Riven stood up, entering her bathroom and turning on the bath tap. She removed her sweaty and blood stained clothes, dumping them on the floor. While the water heated up, she looked in the mirror, eyeing the mark left behind by Katarina on her shoulder. Already bruised, she sighed and climbed into the bath.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.


	2. Making New Friends

Chapter 2: Making Friends

 _Riven was back in the fields of Ionia, the screams of pain from her men surrounded her. The Zaunite-Noxus betrayal of Fury Company was fresh in her mind and in her nightmares. The smell of burning flesh filled her nose. Her subordinates writhed in pain due to the chemical burns inflicted upon them, Riven was unable to move or do anything to save or soothe her dying men._

 _Coward._

Riven woke up from her nightmare, dripping in sweat. Riven always had the same nightmare of being unable to do anything but watch her soldiers die. She sat up and walked to the bathroom, showering to remove the sweat from her body. The rings around her eyes were clearly visible in the mirror. She put on new clean clothes as she felt her stomach growl. Checking the fridge, she sighed. She would have to go to the dining hall; she couldn't hide in her room all day as usual.

Riven stepped out of her dorm room into an empty hall way, her dormitory floor was relatively empty compared to most as she lived with those who didn't belong to a city state. She obviously couldn't stay in the Noxian dorm. Walking down the stairs, she ran into Diana, making eye contact as she brushed past. Most of those living on her floor were loners like Riven, not belonging to anything or anyone.

The dining hall was packed as expected at 9am. After grabbing her food from the buffet, she scanned the room for an empty table; she didn't have any friends or even acquaintances to sit with. Finding an empty table, she placed her tray down and began picking at her food. After a few moments Riven was interrupted by a high pitched, bubbly voice.

"Excuse me, would it be okay if we sit here?" Riven looked up from her plate at the blonde girl standing in front of her. Luxanna Crownguard, the Lady of Luminosity. Next to her stood Irelia Lito, an infamous captain in the Ionian army, a woman she had heard many stories about. She didn't, however, immediately recognise the two women standing with them.

Riven looked between the women for a moment then reluctantly nodded. She had preferred to sit alone but there were no more seats in the hall. She maintained her eyes on the food in front of her, not really listening to the women on her table talk. Riven was never really in the mood for talking, but with Irelia Lito at the table, she was even more not interested in getting involved. Irelia most likely hated her existence; they fought a war against each other. Riven had caused the deaths of thousands of her people, possibly more.

The women at her table had gone silent, Riven realised that Miss Crownguard had asked her a question.

"Sorry, what?" she asked.

"I asked what your name was. I haven't seen you at the Institute of War before." The blonde smiled at her. Riven darted her eyes between all the women, considering her answer.

A few moments later, Riven responded. "I'm Riven, I joined the League three weeks ago."

"Nice to meet you Riven," The girl giggled. "I'm Luxanna Crownguard, but everyone calls me Lux. That's Irelia Lito," She said pointing to the dark haired woman beside her. "And this is Ahri and Soraka." She gestured to the women beside Riven. After hearing their names, she recognised the two women from stories she had heard while travelling in Ionia, Ahri the nine tailed fox and Soraka, the Star Child. Riven had heard many impressive stories about them in the Noxian-Ionian war, almost as many as she had heard about Captain Lito.

She nodded in response and mumbled, "Nice to meet you." Riven turned her focus back to the remainder of her breakfast, finishing it. She thought the conversation was over before the blonde spoke again.

"Where are you from, Riven?"

"Nowhere." She responded harshly, hoping to end the prying.

"Well, you have to be from somewhere." The blonde giggled. Irelia eyed her with an ominous look, obviously she had recognised her and where she was from.

"I used to be Noxian I guess." She rose from the table, tray in hand.

"Why don't you stay and talk to us Riven?" The girl smiled. Riven made eye contact with Irelia before responding.

"I don't feel like it. Thank you for the offer." Before Lux could speak more, Riven was already exiting the dining hall.

Riven quickly headed back to the safety and comfort of her dorm room, away from the prying eyes and questions. The girl, Lux, seemed polite and friendly enough, but Riven wasn't used to that kind of attention. She had lived alone, in exile, for a long time. She certainly wasn't interested in being near Irelia with the hatred clearly showing in her eyes.

She entered her room, sighing as she sat down at the dining table Katarina had her way with her on the night before. The League wasn't terribly exciting outside of matches, she was already bored. It was, however, better than living on whatever food she could scavenge and sleeping in the cold.


	3. An Ionian History Lesson

Chapter 3: An Ionian History Lesson

Riven woke up, covered in sweat, after yet another nightmare. This time Irelia and Soraka had made an appearance in it, strengthening Riven's feeling of guilt, guilt about participating in the suffering of Irelia, Soraka and their fellow countrymen. She sighed as she rose from her bed and headed towards her bathroom for a shower. After turning on the shower, Riven faced the mirror and removed the war paint on her face. She ran her fingers along the scar on her face that she kept hidden and then removed her clothes. The scar wasn't improving at all in the years since Ionia like she had hoped. Sighing, she stepped into the shower; the look on Irelia's face yesterday in the dining hall kept haunting her thoughts.

She had heard stories about the infamous Captain Irelia Lito and Soraka, the Star Child, however on the back roads of Ionia, you could never be sure what was the truth and what was fiction designed to make people feel more comfortable with their suffering. She could always go to the library and do some research, she thought to herself. Only problem was that Riven was almost illiterate.

She pursed her lips, thinking about what to do, deciding to try giving the research a try anyway even if it's hard. Riven turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping a towel around her body and drying her hair. She reapplied her war paint to her scar and wrapped her upper body in bandages as she always did before changing into clean clothes and her armour. She grabbed her rune sword on the way out the door, heading down the stairs to the library. Riven had decided to skip the dining hall's breakfast and go to the library instead. She wanted to be somewhere quiet and alone this morning.

The library had turned out to be much larger than she expect, though, she's not sure what she should have expect considering she'd never been to a library before. She could barely read. She did know however that Diana, her fellow loner and exile, was the person who ran the library. Riven entered the library and it was dim, almost no more lights on other than what was necessary, not surprising for someone of Diana's beliefs and skills. She headed up to the front counter where Diana sat scanning books that had been returned. Riven stood there waiting for Diana to ask her what she needed, but after several moments of silence, Riven spoke first.

"Hey Diana, could you direct me to where the Ionian history section is." Diana finally lifted her gaze from the books on her counter and made eye contact with Riven, pausing for a moment and examining her.

"Last set of shelves at the back on the right, row fifteen." She said in a cool voice before going back to her books immediately. Riven shrugged and followed her directions.

Riven found herself in the section Diana had directed her to and began scanning the shelves for something she could use. A lot of the titles were either in Ionian or had words in the common tongue that she couldn't understand. She sighed; this might be harder than she thought it would be. Eventually she found a book she could use, 'A Modern Ionian History'. That seems right, she thought to herself.

Riven carried the book to the nearest table, leaning her sword against it and flicking on the table lamp. Sitting down, she flicked the book open to the contents page, trying to find words she could understand, which were very few. Back in Noxus, the military college hadn't bothered to teach her more than what she needed to read and write military orders in battle. This was going to be very difficult, she thought.

After twenty minutes of trying to get through the contents list and flipping through chapters to see what she could recognise, she slammed her fist on the table in frustration. She hadn't realised someone else was nearby until she had heard her voice.

"You alright there?" Riven jumped in her seat, and her face reddened. Someone had seen her meltdown. She turned to see who was standing behind her. It was Irelia, much to Riven's surprise.

"Uh… Yes, I'm fine." Riven hesitated and Irelia noticed. She took a seat at the table across from Riven.

"You don't seem it. You mind?" Irelia asked, gesturing to the book in front of Riven. Riven nodded and gestured for her to take it. Irelia closed it and saw the title. "A Modern Ionian History?" She queried while locking eyes with Riven. Riven's face began to resemble the colour of a beetroot.

"Yes, I was curious." She puffed herself up like a bird trying to act larger and tougher than it is, not wanting to appear vulnerable in front of Irelia.

"Why is it frustrating you then? Didn't like the portrayal of the Noxians in this?" She eyed her suspiciously, expecting Riven to say yes.

"No, I'm not Noxian anymore. I'm an exile by choice. So it's not that."

"So what is it then?" Riven's face had become so red it was spreading to her ears. She wasn't going to lie to Irelia about why she was frustrated, but she didn't want to admit her secret either. But with the look in Irelia's eyes, it was too late for that. She had put two and two together, her eyes darting between the book and Riven's face throbbing with embarrassment. "You can't read?" She said bluntly.

Riven looked away from Irelia, trying to hide her shame. "Riven, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that." Riven turned her face back to look at Irelia.

"Yeah, I can't read, okay?"

"Why's that? Did no one ever teach you?" Riven huffed at the question. It was a pretty personal one. Irelia realised the question had upset and she began to apologise but Riven cut her off by raising her hand.

"Don't worry about it. I didn't get a chance to learn because in Noxus I was orphaned and never given a chance to go to school until I proved my worth as a soldier for Noxus, so they put me in military college. However, by then, everyone else knew how to read and they decided it would be easier to just teach me the basics for reading and writing military orders instead of wasting time teaching me properly." Irelia had a look of pity in her eyes. Riven hated that.

"Well, I could help you if you would like?" Riven hesitated on taking her offer but Irelia waited in the silence, hoping to pressure her into saying yes.

"Okay, I guess. As long as it doesn't burden you to help me." One thing Riven hated more than pity was being a burden, dead weight.

"It's no burden. Come with me." Riven stood, grabbing her rune sword and followed Irelia back into the row, where she picked out a few more similar titles and took them to Diana to check them out of the library.

Diana raised her eyes from her books and looked at Riven, then Irelia, then back at Riven as if she were surprised to see Riven with someone. Diana knew Riven was a loner just like herself and hadn't seen Riven with anyone in the multiple weeks it had been since she arrived at the League. After the pause, Diana finally scanned the books Irelia gave her so they could leave.

The Ionian dorm floor was the one below Riven's. She was nervous about entering it, even with the permission of Irelia, she didn't know if they would appreciate her presence very much. She followed Irelia back to the dorm rooms and up the main stair case. Irelia held the door open to the Ionian dorm for Riven. As Riven entered, she felt the entire common room's eyes on her. Several Ionian's were sitting in the common area between their dorms, talking; they had stopped to stare at Riven. Though their looks were not of anger or disgust but of confusion, most likely because no one had seen Riven with anyone before.

Irelia took her keys out and unlocked her dorm room, room number five and entered. Riven followed her in and closed the door behind her.

"Irelia?" Riven asked as Irelia placed the books on the dining table. All the dorms were exact copies of each other, just with each champion's personal touch. "Do you hate me for being Noxian? For participating in the war? Do the other Ionian's hate me?"

"No, why would you ask that? I wouldn't have offered to help you if I hated you."

"It's just the cold stares you were giving me yesterday at the dining hall and the quiet welcome I got just now."

"I'm sorry, that's just my thinking face."

"What were you thinking about?" It was now Irelia's turn for her face to redden.

"None of your business!" Riven smirked at the dark haired woman's reply. It was the first smile on Riven's face that Irelia had seen and she smiled in return before sitting at the table. "Now, you want help or not?"

Riven sat down at the table with her and Irelia flipped open the book that Riven had been attempting to read in the library. Riven watched Irelia's nimble fingers working through the pages of the book before Irelia's voice snapped her out of her trace.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Irelia sighed, and then smirked at her.

"I said, what were you trying to read about while in the library?" Riven blushed a little bit, she had been attempting to do research on the very woman sitting in front of her.

"I was trying to do some reading on the Ionian side of the conflict. Mostly about you and Soraka. While I was travelling on the back roads of Ionia after the Zaunite attack, I heard many stories about you two. I was curious as to which were true and which had been made up."

"Well, you could have just asked me, you know." Irelia rolled her eyes while she flipped the pages of the book to the military campaigns section.

"Sorry, I was of the belief that you didn't like me." Irelia scoffed at Riven.

"I don't even know if I like you yet, Exile." She said to Riven in a playful tone. "Now, let's start with this chapter. You try your best to read and sound out the words, I'll correct you and assist you wherever I have to. Okay?" Riven nodded in response and began trying to read the words.

Multiple hours later, when it was dark outside, Riven and Irelia had finally reached the end of the chapter. Riven was exhausted. Who knew reading was so hard? She thought. Her illiteracy was even worse than she had believed. Irelia closed the book in front of her and put it on top of the other ones.

"Find me sometime this week and we'll do another chapter. Sound good?"

"Sure." Riven said as she rose from her chair at the dining table. She turned to head to the door but paused, a question playing on her mind. Riven faced Irelia, opening her mouth to ask her a question before changing her mind. "Nevermind. Goodnight Irelia, see you some other time."

Riven exited the dorm room and walked down the hall, making a straight line for the main stairs and then her own dorm room. She pulled out her own keys and unlocked her door, stepping inside. The moonlight reflecting off the body of a woman inside her dorm room made Riven jump.

"K-Katarina? What're you doing here?" She stammered. Katarina smirked as her reply.


	4. Summoner's Rift

Chapter 4: Summoner's Rift

Riven didn't even get to sleep through her nightmares last night. She just sat on her bed, looking out the window most of the night. There aren't many times where the nightmares are severe enough that she wakes up screaming and can't go back to sleep but this was one of them. Riven glanced at the clock on the wall. It was time to get ready; she had a match scheduled today on Summoner's Rift.

She made her way to the bathroom, removed her clothes from yesterday and her war paint. Standing in front of the mirror, she could see all the bruises inflicted on her body by Katarina when she had visited Riven last night. Bruises caused by biting and some scratch marks on her upper back. Katarina had once again marked her play thing. Riven stepped into the shower and washed herself, thinking about last night's activities. These late night sessions where Katarina dropped in whenever she felt like having sex with Riven and then leaving as quickly as she had arrived both pleased and infuriated Riven. Katarina had always been flighty and scared of being vulnerable, but before Riven had left Noxus, she had at least stayed the night and shared some affection with Riven that implied that she was more than a play thing to her.

She knew Katarina felt betrayed and that's why she was acting this way, but she won't even let Riven speak to at least explain herself. Riven felt like she may need to leave Katarina alone to let her figure things out for herself, even if it meant denying her night visits. Katarina was risking so much by visiting her and doing what she was doing, and yet it was just sex. Riven sighed, pushing Katarina out of her mind and stepping out onto the bathmat outside the shower.

Once Riven was dressed and ready, she picked up her rune sword and headed for the summoning station out in the main court yard. She knew she had been scheduled for a match but she hadn't bothered to check who with or who she was against. Next to the summoning station sat a screen displaying who was fighting today. On her team were Caitlyn, Ahri, Nami, and Irelia. I guess I'm going jungle today, she thought to herself. The enemy team composition was Leona, Ashe, Rengar, Yasuo and Katarina. Riven felt her teeth grinding.

Riven stepped up to the summoning platform, standing next to her teammates. Irelia smiled at her as she arrived. It wasn't long before they stood in their base on Summoner's Rift. Riven bought her first items and marched over to her starting point in the jungle, Red Buff. Caitlyn and Nami assisted her with Red Buff and Riven headed on her way through her jungle path. She preferred the top lane though she didn't mind the jungle so much.

Riven watched carefully, waiting for gank opportunities. She wasn't so thrilled on the idea of ganking Katarina in the mid lane. Though she wouldn't have much of a choice in this match, she had Ahri pushed back so far she was hiding under her turret. Riven made her way through the bush and dashed towards Katarina, finishing her off with the help of Ahri. She heard Katarina growl before disappearing.

Riven had returned to her jungle path, watching and waiting. She saw Irelia making her way down to help the mid lane against Katarina. Katarina managed to kill Ahri and Irelia began duelling with Katarina in the lane. Riven headed over to assist.

Katarina had the Ionian on her back, she snarled at her, raising her arm to deliver a final blow before she was blocked by Riven's rune sword, saving Irelia's life. Katarina snarled at her, doubling her efforts to end someone's life, even if it were Riven's. Riven did her best to block as many hits from her as possible, though she was damaged by a few.

"You okay Irelia?" Riven asked when they were finally safe from Katarina.

"Yes, thank you for saving me." She replied as she began to recall back to base, touching Riven's arm tenderly as she did so. Riven made eye contact with Katarina after Irelia was gone, she could feel the anger emanating from the red head from here. She knew that touch would cause problems.

The rest of the problem was relatively less eventful. They had won within thirty minutes as Ashe had seemed to be having issues in the bot lane and gave Caitlyn too many kills for them to lose.

Once the game was over, Riven was returned to the summoning platform she had started in.

"Good work Irelia, you did well." She praised what she felt like might be her friend. She wasn't sure. She didn't have many of those.

"Thank you for your help Riven, you saved me so many times." She said with a smile. The pair walked in a comfortable silence on the way back to the dorms. Riven was dying for a shower after that.


	5. Knife Play

Chapter 5: Knife Play

Riven returned to her dorm room from yet another day of Irelia struggling to teach her how to read. It's not so much that Irelia is a bad teacher, but Riven is a difficult student. Riven has always been used to being a fast learner when it comes to combat and military strategy, but reading? Not so much.

Riven unlocked her door and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. As soon as the door clicked behind her, Katarina shoved her up against the door, placing the blade of her knife to her throat.

"Katarina?" She was becoming less surprised by Katarina's presence in her room whenever she returned, it was becoming far more frequent now.

"I've heard you've been seeing that Ionian whore." Riven stood there puzzled for a moment until she realised Katarina was referring to Irelia. Irelia who had Riven visiting often for hours on end in her private dorm room, Irelia who had made flirtatious contact with Riven in front of Katarina on Summoner's Rift. She knew where Katarina had gotten that idea from.

"Katarina, I'm not seeing anyone at all. I'm just friends with Irelia." The look in the red-head's eyes showed she didn't believe a word of it. She pressed the knife further into Riven's throat, drawing the slightest trickle of blood from Riven. "It's true, she's been… um…" She didn't know how to say it. Not even Katarina knew that she couldn't read. She had faked it so well back in Noxus and figured out ways around her illiteracy.

"She's been what? Fucking you in her private dorm on the Ionian floor? I figured that out myself." Katarina was seething with anger and jealousy. Riven had never really seen her like this before. She had seen her jealous before, but not to this level.

"No, she's teaching me how to read." The Exile offered. She hadn't wanted to admit it, but Katarina might slit her throat if she hadn't. Katarina scoffed, believing it to be a lie until she saw the look of shame on Riven's face.

"You never learnt how to read?" She raised an eyebrow as she removed the blade from Riven's neck. Riven shook her head in response.

"No, I never got the chance to learn." The feeling of shame and embarrassment was spreading on her face. Katarina smirked.

"It's a good thing then that you're so cute when you look like that."

Katarina forced Riven from the door and onto the bed, she climbed on top of her, straddling Riven's waist. Riven could feel her blood pulsating in her ears, even though she had known Katarina for almost a decade and they had been lovers for almost just as long, Katarina still made her nervous. She was never sure why.

Katarina quickly swiped her blade at Riven's neck, reopening the freshly closed wound made on her neck just minutes ago. She kissed the wound, and then bit over the top of it, causing Riven to gasp and cry in both pain and pleasure. Katarina had always loved knife play during sex.

Katarina used her blade to quickly remove Riven's clothing before stripping her own. Riven closed her eyes as she felt Katarina's blade hovering over her skin, deciding where to strike first. She felt a quick swipe at her collar bone followed by Katarina's mouth, converting the pain into pleasure, moaning at the touch. Katarina used her blade to slowly make her way down Riven's chest, torturing Riven with her pace.

Another cut, this time on her hip, Riven could feel a deep heat growing in between her legs as Katarina inched closer and closer. The red head locked eyes with Riven, a smirk growing on her face as she could see her ashen haired lovers growing desperation for something more than her blade dancing on her skin.

Katarina's eyes still locked onto her lovers, she moved past her crotch and straight for her inner thighs, biting along the length of them down to her knees. Beneath her touch, Riven began to squirm in anticipation. Katarina had never been the one to have such patience, especially not since they had become lovers again. Riven knew this would plague her mind tomorrow, but tonight she wanted to let go.

The blade dragging along her inner thigh brought her attention back to the moment. Even if Katarina was being patient, she still demanded her lovers full attention. Riven bucked her hips at the assassins mouth being placed on the fresh wound on the inside of her thigh, her desire had been mounting. Katarina was teasing her.

"Fuck me already." She snapped at Katarina. Katarina raised her eyebrow in response before giving her what she asked for.

Riven moaned loudly at Katarina's mouth being on her womanhood, her tongue swirling around her clit, teasing some more. Riven twisted her fingers in Katarina's red hair as fingers were slipped into between her legs. Riven wasn't going to last long after all of the foreplay that had built up her desire and need for Katarina. The assassin's tongue quickened with the fast thrusts of her fingers inside of Riven, the ashen haired woman's hips bucking along with pleasure. Riven was moaning loudly even as she actively tried to quieten herself for her neighbours.

It wasn't long before Riven came, Katarina raising her head with one of her classic victorious smirks on her face. She dragged her finger tips along the cuts she had made with her blade while Riven recovered from the pleasure she had inflicted.

"How was that?" The assassin asked, one eyebrow raised.

"G-Good." Riven stammered, still catching her breath.

"Good, now it's my turn." She said, flipping the pair over so Riven was now on top.


	6. Angering Two Women Takes Skill

Chapter 6: Angering Two Women Takes Skill

Last night's events had surprised Riven, not because she had slept with Katarina yet again, but because it was different from the other nights she had visited. She had been less aggressive than normal if you ignored the greeting with a knife that she had received. The assassin clouded Riven's judgement, she had loved her in what felt like a previous life and probably still did love her now, but loving a woman who blindly followed Noxian orders and beliefs went against Riven's goals of founding a better Noxus.

Riven sighed as she rubbed her fingers against the blood marks on the bed sheets, she wasn't sure if she would be able to get those off. She stood, removing the sheets and dumping them in the washing basket by the door. Riven didn't know how to use a washing machine but she didn't want someone else to clean them either, that would be too embarrassing.

After a quick shower, Riven got herself dressed having to use some new bandages while wrapping her chest as Katarina had cut hers off. In front of the mirror, Riven frowned, the evidence of Katarina's handy work from last night was visible on her neck and she didn't own anything to cover it up. That was a downside of being with Katarina; it often let everyone know what you had been doing the night prior.

Riven stepped out her front door, holding the basket with her laundry in it and heading to the laundry room on the bottom floor of the dorm building. Luckily no one had seen her on her way down, she could try to figure out how to use the washing machine in peace. She opened the lid of the machine and peered inside it. I guess that's where you put the laundry, she thought to herself, but how do you get it to turn on. Her reading still hadn't improved enough to read any of the instructions on the front of the machine, lost in thought and concentration, a voice behind her made Riven jump.

"Need help?" Riven turned to face Irelia. Was Irelia going to be nearby any time she struggles with something embarrassing? She wondered to herself.

"Yes, I've never used a washing machine before. How do I turn it on?" Irelia smiled and walked up to the machine, pointing to the switches on the front.

"You just turn it on with this button, then you select the load size with this, whites or colours with this and then press the start button again and it will start washing. But before you press start, you need to load it with this powder," Riven nodded along as Irelia explained the machine to her. Irelia began eyeing her laundry, the bloody sheets. "What happened?" She asked, raising her gaze to Riven where she caught a glimpse of the cuts and bruising on Riven's neck.

Irelia's hand reached out to Riven's neck, trying to get a better look at the wound. Riven could see that she was concerned, thinking Riven had been assaulted, making her feel both guilty and embarrassed. The feeling of embarrassment started showing on Riven's face, it quickly turning scarlet. Irelia's face started to match the colour of Riven's once she figured out what had actually happened.

"Oh…" She said, quickly withdrawing her hand and looking away. Her tone of voice sounded hurt and jealous to Riven, confusing her.

"It's not what you think." Riven started, trying to save face in front of the dark haired woman. Riven didn't know why, but she didn't want Irelia to think that she was doing anything more with Katarina than just sleeping with her, but saying that would be lying. There's too much history behind Katarina and Riven for it just to be sex between them, even if they weren't really talking.

"So you're sleeping with Katarina?" Riven was shocked that she knew who it was so fast.

"Well, yes and no. It's complicated. How'd you know it was her?" Irelia scoffed at the question, it felt rather cold towards Riven. The warmth she had been feeling between them seemed to be gone.

"Please, I see those marks on women around her all the time. Katarina marks every single woman she sleeps with around her. I hope she didn't make you think you were special to her." Ouch. Irelia's on the attack, clearly I've hurt her feelings, Riven thought to herself. Irelia was oblivious to the history behind Katarina and Riven; otherwise she probably wouldn't be saying those things.

"It's much more complicated than me just being another one of her whores." She pleaded with Irelia though she didn't have much follow up. She didn't want really want to talk to her about Katarina. Riven liked Irelia and didn't want to get her involved with it, especially when Riven was so unsure with what was going on between Irelia and herself, let alone Katarina and Riven.

"Oh really? Enlighten me." Riven looked away from Irelia, lost for words. Irelia raised her eyebrow at Riven before snatching up her own laundry basket and marching out, as if she didn't have any washing to do.

Riven sighed as she turned back to the washing machine, tipping her sheets into the machine. She followed Irelia's instructions and rubbed her temples. Riven had never been much better at sharing her feelings or her secrets than Katarina was, what a mess she had made.

Later that night, Riven lay down on her bed, thinking about Katarina and Irelia while staring out the window. Riven slowly drifted off while looking at the night sky when two hands gripped the edge of the window sill causing Riven to sit up, panicked.

The red headed assassin pulled herself half way through the window before locking eyes with Riven; she could see the assassin looked embarrassed.

"So that's how you've been getting in while my door is locked?" Riven raised her eyebrow at Katarina as the assassin pulled herself through the window completely. "I'm surprised to see you back here so soon, you were only here last night." Katarina strutted over to the bed from the window and knelt on it next to Riven, ignoring her questions she began kissing Riven's neck.

Riven gently pushed Katarina from her, breaking the contact. "What?" The red head asked, hovering over Riven's neck.

"We need to talk." She said, pushing Katarina back further to make eye contact. "We can't keep doing this over and over without talking. You haven't even called me by my name yet, you're still calling me Exile." Katarina growled.

"I didn't come here to talk, _Riven_."

"Clearly. We still need to."

"Fine," Katarina gestured for Riven to continue. "Be quick though, I want to get back to what I started." She said, smirking.

"I need to know what this is. Do you still love me? Do you want to be with me or just sleep with me? What about Noxus?" Riven looked to Katarina, hoping this would go into a deep conversation, though knowing Katarina she knew it would be a challenge.

"Oh, it's going to be one of _those_ conversations." She scoffed as she began stepping off the bed as if she were going to leave.

"Katarina, don't go. You haven't even answered one of my questions." Katarina stopped, her hand hovering over the door handle. She had a weak spot for Riven's pleas.

"Of course I still love you," She said in a rough tone, "The better question is do you still love me? You betrayed Noxus during the war and left without even telling me, letting me think you were dead for seven years. You didn't bother to even write to me to let me know you were alive, Riven. How could I even begin to trust you after what you did?" Katarina slammed the door behind her. There it is, Riven thought, how Katarina feels about me is finally in the open, even if it did hurt me to hear those words.


	7. Repercussions

Chapter 7: Repercussions

The next morning, Riven sat at a table in the dining hall by herself, eating what she was told by the lady behind the counter was called cornflakes, she hadn't seen this before but she liked it. It certainly wasn't Noxian. She had run out of food in her own room again and had to eat in the dining hall again like everyone else, but luckily she had managed to find a table of her own, giving her some peace and quiet even if the hall was loud with laughter and people chatting.

Riven's peace and quiet quickly came to an end with the palm of someone's hand slamming against the table in front of her, causing Riven to jump and nearly spill what remained of her cornflakes. She made eye contact with the two women in front of her. The hand belonged to Lux, the light mage, her face was scrunched with anger but she still somehow looked friendly even if she was angry. Next to her was the purple woman, Soraka the Starchild, looking considerably calmer than her friend. Riven's eyes darting between the two of them waiting to be informed on what she had done wrong.

"Yes?" Riven said, eyeing the blonde in front of her.

"You know what you did." The blonde's voice still had a giggle air to it, even while trying to start a fight. Riven stared blankly at her, unsure of what she had done wrong. She paused, scratching her head before it clicked with her. Just because Riven didn't tell anyone what happened in the laundry room the day prior (because, who would she tell?), doesn't mean that Irelia had kept it to herself. Irelia had friends unlike Riven and possibly liked sharing her feelings with them.

"Oh." This was all Riven could muster as a response. She didn't know what to say to the women in front of her, she had never been in a situation quite like this one before. The only woman she had been with was Katarina and Katarina was so private that Riven had a hard enough time knowing things about her.

"Oh?" Lux repeated in a mocking tone, "That's all you have to say after hurting my friend?"

"Lux," The Starchild spoke up, her tone was soothing, "Try to calm down, Irelia made you promise that you wouldn't get yourself involved like th-"

"You hurt Irelia's feelings!" The blonde cut off her friend, ignoring her entirely, "You better find a way to fix what you've done or you leave her alone."

Riven finally attempted to get a word into this confrontation, "I don't really know whether what happens between me and Irelia is your business." The blonde squinted her eyes angrily at her. Lux was cute while she was angry, if she wasn't in such a mess as it was, she may have been interested, thought Riven to herself.

"You better find a way to fix what you've done or you leave her alone." Lux repeated with an accusatory finger pointed towards Riven. The Starchild sighed with exasperation, her attempt to prevent the situation from escalated by coming with had clearly failed. Riven raised an eyebrow and paused for a moment keeping eye contact with the blonde before eventually nodding in agreement and going back to eating her cornflakes, breaking eye contact.

Lux huffed in a high pitched tone, folding her arms across her chest before practically skipping away, looking as victorious as she probably felt. The Starchild, however, lingered in front of Riven.

"I'm sorry about that," she said to Riven, "But please speak to Irelia."

Before Riven had a chance to respond to her, she had turned and began to rejoin her friends at another table across the hall. Riven scratched her head, her plate now empty, she rose and put it with all the other dirty dishes and headed upstairs to her dorm.

Riven sighed, lying on her bed, staring at her rune blade. When she had agreed to join the League in exchange for immunity from Noxus and shelter, she hadn't thought about it being so complicated. She had believed that Katarina would have been more loyal to Noxus and refused to look at her, let alone sneak into her dorm room multiple nights a week. Nor did she expect to meet Irelia, a woman she believed she had feelings for, especially when she was so different to Katarina. Though, not even Katarina is similar to what she used to be, she had always been angry but never this angry. Riven thought back to her time in Noxus before leaving for the Ionian campaign, when her relationship with Katarina was at its most solid.

 _Riven knocked on the large solid oak wood doors of the Du Couteau mansion, this family home starkly contrasted what Riven had experienced as young child, she had never been wealthy. A dark haired woman, not Katarina, answered the door._

" _Ooh, Katarina! Your girlfriend has arrived." Riven's face reddened at the part of Cassiopeia calling her Katarina's 'girlfriend'. She wasn't sure that was an accurate term, Katarina was keeping Riven a secret. Katarina pushed her sister aside and grabbed Riven by the shirt, pulling her inside the doors into the mansion._

" _Come with me." The assassin said to Riven, a wide smile on her face. The red head led Riven through the long and empty halls and corridors, sparsely decorated with a weapon here and a clock there, eventually arriving at Katarina's bedroom. Katarina opened the door to the room and then gestured for Riven to enter after her. She hesitated._

 _Riven had been with Katarina in secret for almost a year now, the assassin would visit her at the military residences in the shitty part of town in her spare time, usually to have sex, but occasionally it was more than that. However, it had certainly never been at a level where Katarina asked Riven to come to Katarina's family home, something that worried Riven. She didn't want to ruin Katarina's reputation._

 _Katarina rolled her eyes, seeing Riven overthinking and grabbed her shirt, pulling her inside like she had at the front door, and closing it behind Riven. With Riven's back pressed up against the door, Katarina began kissing at Riven's neck._

" _Katarina, isn't this dangerous? What about your reputation?" Katarina pulled away from Riven's neck, an eyebrow raised._

" _Not anymore," she replied, "The cats out of the bag. Or at least, it is with my family. Cassiopeia being a nosing cow like always, found someone to tail me one night when I visited you at your residence." Riven blushed lightly at the thought of someone having watched them interact inside Riven's home._

" _I assume it's not as big of a problem as we thought if I'm standing here in your bedroom." She looked into Katarina's eyes, waiting for her response._

" _My father isn't pleased per say, but he's certainly not as angry as I thought he would be. More mildly annoyed and disappointed that I'm not seeing a man of similar status to me. He gave up talking me out of being with you when he realised that I love you, Riven." Riven paused at the sound of those last few words. Katarina and Riven hadn't shared them yet, even if both of them felt so strongly about each other. Riven had been holding on, not wanting to say anything should something between them go wrong due to being caught._

" _Yes Riven, you heard me, I love you." The assassin repeated herself, with a smirk before pressing her lips to the corner of Riven's mouth._

" _I love you too, Katarina." Riven finally responded._

" _Good." Katarina began kissing harshly down Riven's neck._

Her relationship with Katarina was no longer like that, no more soft or romantic moments dotted between the sexual encounters. It was almost all aggressive sexual encounters now, Katarina arrived, took what she wanted from Riven and left as quickly as she had appeared. Katarina kept coming to fulfil her own need to touching and being with Riven without talking about her feelings, plus she knew that Riven couldn't say no to her, she didn't have the strength to say no to someone she had loved for so long.


	8. Let's Talk Feelings

Chapter 8: Let's Talk Feelings

(Katarina POV)

Katarina snaked her arm around the naked waist of Miss Fortune, Sarah, who was lying next to her in bed. Katarina pressed her lips to the top of Sarah's shoulder.

"Hey. Can I talk to you about something?" Sarah raised her eyebrow and turned her head slightly to look at Katarina.

"About what?" Sarah asked cautiously. Katarina hesitated in response, knowing that talking to Sarah about Riven again for the second time that week would probably piss her off, again.

"About… you know." Sarah rolled her eyes at Katarina.

"You want to talk more about Riven? Despite you not doing anything with the advice I gave you last time, and the time before and the time before that. Once again, Katarina, talk to her about you two. Not me."

"It's harder for me to talk to Riven. I don't know what to say or how to tell her how I feel."

"Yeah… I'm not going to let this happen anymore." Sarah said, sitting up on the bed, reaching around for her clothes.

"Let what happen?"

"Let you bed me so you can then corner me with your feelings for another woman immediately after. You're a good lay Katarina, but you're not that good," Katarina frowned, looking away from Sarah. Sarah turned around and saw the look on Katarina's face; she rolled her eyes as she caved to Katarina, "Fine. Talk to me about it."

"I just don't know how to sit down and talk with her about this, I've never been very good at talking to anyone about my feelings, plus she's so different now. I mean, Riven was never a ray of sunshine but she certainly wasn't this cold or aloof back when we first met."

"You know, there might be a reason for why she's acting the way she is and why she left Noxus. It might be more than what you know. So why don't you ask her to tell you what happened? It should give you some closure. Besides, you've gotten good enough practice by talking to me about your feelings." Sarah said as she started getting dressed, picking her clothes piece by piece off the floor.

"I guess you're right."

"I know I am," Sarah chucked as she spoke, "Now, you go and tell her how you feeling, you ask her about what happened in Ionia, you work out your shit and see if you guys can make it work. Fucking me and telling me about your feelings for Riven doesn't make her come back to you and you better make quick work of it too."

"Why do I have to be quick?"

"You haven't heard the rumours of the Ionian captain's feelings for Riven? Apparently she's really into her and from what I hear, it may be reciprocated." Katarina grumbled in response, quickly putting her clothes on, "Now, Kat. If things don't work out between you and Riven, you know where my room is. Otherwise, get out of my room and sort out your bullshit." Sarah said, forcefully shoving Katarina out the door of her room.

(Riven POV)

Riven pushed the door to the Ionian dorm floor open, ignoring the stares, she headed to Irelia's room. She had come to talk with her and explain her situation. Hopefully she could fix some of the pain she had caused Irelia. Riven raised her hand and knocked on the door, realising she wasn't sure if Irelia was actually in her room.

After a few moments with no response, Riven turned to walk away and the door opened behind her, Irelia peering out at her.

"Yes?" Irelia asked, trying to act as coldly as possible to cover up being pleased at seeing Riven at her door.

"Can I come in? I would like to talk." Irelia paused for a moment before nodding and opening the door, letting Riven inside. Irelia closed the door behind her and stood between Riven and the door.

After several moments of silent eye contact, "I'm sorry," Riven started, "I hadn't realised your level of feelings for me, and I thought I was making it up in my head." Riven waited, hoping to get some kind of response from Irelia.

"I'm sorry for calling you one of Katarina's whores." Irelia replied, a small smile appearing on the corners of her lips.

"It's okay; you don't have all the facts. Let me fill you in and we'll go from there, okay?" Irelia looked the ashen haired woman up and down before nodding in response. "I used to date Katarina several years ago, when I was still a Noxian soldier. We met through the military and began seeing each other, which lasted until she thought I had died."

"She thought you had died?" The dark haired woman had a look of surprise on her face.

"Yes, when I was on the front lines in Ionia, she was serving with high command back in Noxus, eventually my company was betrayed by the Zaunites who committed friendly fire in order to be able to kill some Ionians. I was the only one from my company who survived the chemical burns inflicted by Singed's poison," Riven continued, gesturing at the bandages that covered most of her body and the war paint on her face, "I hid in the Ionian forests nearby for several months, not wanting to go back to a country that was willing to let a company of their men die brutally for no reason. In that time, I figure they had declared me KIA, informing Katarina who was my only next of kin at the time that I had been killed in battle by Ionians. I mostly hid in the rural areas of Ionia, doing mercenary work here and there to survive until finally I was offered a place here. Nearly seven years after the deaths of my men and my own near death. I hadn't realised that Katarina didn't know I was alive. I hadn't contacted her because I firstly thought that it wasn't safe to risk her standing in Noxus, talking to a traitor but also because I didn't believe that Katarina would want to see me after what I had done." Irelia had been listening intently to everything Riven had been saying.

"So what are you going to do now? Are you getting back together with her?"

"I don't know. We're both very different from when we were together, and she can't be with me without choosing to betray Noxus as well." Riven didn't know how or when but she had ended up very close to Irelia, looking into her brown eyes. "I also don't know what to do with my feelings for you, Irelia."

The Ionian woman smiled at the thought of Riven having feelings for her, she reached out and cupped her face, rubbing her thumb along the war paint on Riven's cheek. She gently placed her lips on Riven's, holding a kiss for a few seconds.

"I understand now. I'll be more patient, I'll give you time to work things out with Katarina. But I would like a straight answer from you soon. I want to be with you Riven." Riven nodded in response.

"As soon as possible."

"Now," Irelia started, removing herself from Riven's embrace, "Come back tomorrow and we'll do more work on your reading and writing."

"Sure," Riven smiled at the idea of spending more time with Irelia, "In the meantime, can you call off Lux? She's not very threatening or anything but it probably doesn't help to have her running around, demanding people to own up to their feelings." Irelia laughed.

"Okay, I'll talk to her. See you tomorrow." Riven planted one last quick kiss on Irelia before heading out the door behind her.


	9. Poorly Kept Secrets

Chapter 9: Poorly Kept Secrets

Riven left Irelia's room the next day, her reading was starting to see some improvement with Irelia's help; however she spent most of the session distracted by Irelia's smiles and flirtatious touches dotted throughout. The Ionian's living around Irelia had begun to be less surprised by Riven visiting Irelia and the stares dwindled. Riven knew that rumours had begun to circulate about the status of her relationship with Irelia, no doubt spread by Lux herself, she was known to be an insatiable gossip. She figured that Katarina had probably heard them as well and wasn't taking too kindly to them; Riven expected a visit from her soon.

Riven headed down the main stairs of the dorm hall, heading towards the library, she had to return the books Irelia had gotten out for her to learn. On the way there, she passed through the gardens that were maintained by Zyra, she normally wasn't the one for flowers but she lingered anyway. One particular blue flower caught Riven's attention, it reminded her of something though she couldn't place where from, then it came to her. Oh.

 _Riven's fingers dug into the soil of the field filled with blue flowers. In the distance, she could hear pained screams of her soldiers as they died. At least the field where her and her men would die was nice, she thought to herself. She lay still and rested her face on the grass; she muffled her own pained noises as she felt the chemicals burn through the skin on her arms and back. She hadn't been hit with as much of the gas as the others but fuck did it hurt. She couldn't crawl or move any further. I guess this is how I die. Katarina didn't even let me say goodbye in case I didn't come back. Riven curled up into a ball as the pain reached new heights, passing out._

Riven hadn't realised she had been crying until she felt the drops hit her shirt. She rubbed her face dry and headed out of the gardens quickly, hoping no one had seen her. Some days she wished that she had died back in Ionia with the others, she may have suffered less that way. She was constantly plagued with nightmares and flashbacks that she couldn't stave off. She sighed with herself angrily as she reached the front of the library.

Pushing through the giant oak doors, she headed for the front counter. Diana wasn't there, that was something new. Diana was almost always here and never in her room back at the dorm hall. Riven placed the books on the counter, lingering for a moment, waiting to see if Diana was nearby. When Diana didn't turn up, she turned and left the building, guessing that it was okay to just leave the books for her when she returned.

The ex-Noxian took a longer route back to her dorm room than necessary, passing by the bar run by Gragas. Large groups of champions were laughing and shouting, clearly enjoying themselves. Sometimes Riven wished that she had been more social and better at making friends but she had always preferred to be more of a loner, enjoying her privacy. More so now than before the war, she didn't like appearing weak and if she spent too much time around others, Riven feared they would see her pain after the war as weakness.

Eventually Riven returned to the dorm hall, heading up the stairs to the top floor where she lived. There weren't many who lived on the same floor as her, the only one she knew by name was Diana and that's because she knew who she was before even joining the League. She opened the door to the hall way on her floor when she realised what she had just walked into.

It was Leona, pushing Diana up against the wall next to Diana's door, aggressively making out with each other. Riven stood frozen, keys in hand, staring at the pair when they finally noticed her. Leona quickly created space between herself and the Chosen of the Moon. All three women began turning various shades of red. Riven began looking for escape before realising her dorm room was behind them, meaning she would have to walk past them in this awkward moment to get back.

"You can't tell anyone!" Diana started, clearly panicked by Riven discovering them.

"I won't, I don't care what you do. If you wanted it to be more of secret, you probably shouldn't have been doing that in the hall way," Riven chuckled. She slid past the two women in the hall way, heading for her own door, unlocking it. "Besides, aren't you two supposed to be enemies or something? You're not very good at it." Riven teased as Diana hissed at her, closing the door behind her.


	10. Katarina Gets Her Shit Together

Chapter 10: Katarina Gets Her Shit Together

Riven walked into her dorm room following her walking in on Diana and Leona in the hall way and saw Katarina sitting at her dining table. The red head was carving some lewd drawing into the wood.

"Do you mind not damaging my stuff?"

"I think it looks great, besides, your room has nothing to decorate it so I'm helping," The assassin replied. Riven peered over Katarina's shoulder looking at the drawing, it depicted Katarina stabbing Irelia. Riven sighed, placing her rune sword by her bed and began removing her armour, "I'm finally ready to talk."

This caught Riven off guard, causing her to stop taking off her armour. "How'd that happen? You never feel like talking."

"Let's just say, Sarah helped me get my shit together."

"Sarah?" Riven eyed Katarina, "Nobody calls Miss Fortune by her first name. You sleeping with her too?" Katarina stabbed her blade through the dining table.

"If I were, it would be none of your business." The assassin hissed.

"Well it is if you want to dictate whether I see Irelia or not, which clearly upsets you." Riven said, gesturing at the drawing on her table.

"I don't want to talk about Sar-Miss Fortune or Irelia. I want to know why you left me and didn't come back." Riven was shocked by the vulnerability in both Katarina's tone and choice of words. She wasn't going to waste the opportunity to have an honest conversation with her.

"Do you know what actually happened in Ionia? To Fury Company?" Riven turned from Katarina while talking, she walked to the dining table and began pouring glasses of whiskey for the two of them.

"All the reports I could find said that Fury Company was ambushed by some Ionian's, slaughtered and that they couldn't find your body afterwards so the assumption was that you fled and left your men to die on their own before dying elsewhere."

"Yeah, I figured it would saw something like that. Have you ever wondered how I got the burns on my body? On my face? It certainly wasn't from an Ionian ambush. We were betrayed Katarina. Friendly fire by the Zaunites, they were willing to kill us in order to get the Ionians we were fighting. It killed my men and almost killed me but I was the lucky one, if you could call it that."

Katarina was eyeing Riven suspiciously, she clearly wanted to trust Riven with what she was saying but didn't want to believe that Noxus would let that happen and cover it up. "If that were true and you weren't a coward, why wouldn't you have just sent me a letter or come to find me?"

"And what would you have done? I would have gotten you involved in something that could get you killed. Assisting an exile is worthy of execution or at the very least something similar in severity. Even if I had manage to get word to you and you had believed it, would you have chosen to leave Noxus as well? Leave your family, wealth and status to be with me in exile?"

Katarina hesitated to answer after Riven's accusation. "I don't know. I would like to think that I would."

"Leaving everything behind would be the cost of being with me, you know? It would be delusional to think that both of us could keep this a secret until I reached my goal."

"Your goal?"

"Yes, my plan to bring Noxus back to its former glory, remove the corruption from High Command and the military."

"That's… a very ambitious goal." Katarina frowned, looking away.

"Katarina, I'm sorry that it seemed like I chose to leave you and Noxus for no reason and let you believe I died. I've always loved you, what I did I felt I would be leaving you better off by doing nothing." Riven reached out, touching the assassins hand, "What comes next?"

"I think we both need time to consider this," the red head said before downing her glass of whiskey, "good thing I have something we can do without thinking." She smirked at Riven. Riven finished her glass in return before Katarina pounced on her, dragging her to the bed.

Katarina quickly stripped Riven of the remaining pieces of armour and her clothes, taking off her own quickly after, straddling the exiles waist.

"I missed you, you know." Katarina gave a kind smile, something that was rare from the assassin.

"I missed you too, Riven," She said while leaning down to kiss Riven's neck. She kissed her way down Riven's neck, to her collar bone before pausing, "You know, if this does work out, I could take over teaching you how to read." Riven reddened at the comment, she had forgotten that Katarina knew about that. Katarina chuckled at her embarrassment, returning to Riven's chest. Kissing along the scars that she could see, seeing them in a different light now that she knew the truth about what had happened in Ionia. She smirked up at the exile before moving south.


	11. Too Many Drinks

Chapter 11: Too Many Drinks

Riven woke up the next afternoon, Katarina still lying beside her in bed, both of them naked. They had been up all night having sex and didn't fall asleep until nearly dawn. The exile spent time staring at Katarina, running her fingers through the red head's hair, while Riven didn't want to leave this bed she knew she had some things to think through before anything with Katarina or Irelia continued.

Riven forced herself up from the bed, putting the clothes Katarina had ripped from her yesterday back on, the assassin still asleep in her bed. Katarina must have been very relaxed; she never let her guard down like this. She wrote a note, poorly, to leave for Katarina if she woke up before Riven returned, hoping that she would be able to read it.

The exile headed down the main stairs and out to the court yard, not exactly sure what her destination was quite yet. She wandered around the Institute before finding the bar she had passed by last night, this time deciding to enter. Riven entered, propping her sword up against the bar and sitting on a stool.

A red headed woman behind the bar walked towards Riven to serve her. It was Miss Fortune.

"You're Riven, right?" The bounty hunter asked.

"Yes." She replied bluntly.

"So you know then?" Miss Fortune asked, smirking, already knowing the answer. Riven nodded as her response, "Then you should also know that I repeatedly tell her to talk to you about how she feels, not sure if she listens to me at all though."

"She does. She did last night." Riven was surprised by her own honesty, normally she wouldn't share information about a private relationship with a stranger.

"Good. So what can I get you?" The red head smiled.

"I'll have bourbon, I guess." The red head nodded in response, grabbing a bottle from behind the bar and pouring Riven a drink. Riven held the glass in her hand, looking at the alcohol. Normally Riven wasn't much of a drinker, it didn't help with the nightmares, but she felt it might help with this Katarina Irelia situation.

"I'll leave you to it then." The red head said as she stepped away to serve someone else.

About an hour later, after Riven had downed a few drinks and began feeling their effects, she was joined at the bar by a woman with fluorescent pink hair and woman with a purple hat. The relationship between the two seemed close, flirtatious even.

"You're Riven, right? Nice to meet ya!" The pink haired woman stuck her hand out at Riven, clearly requesting a hand shake. "I'm Vi, and this is Caitlyn." She continued as she gestured the woman beside her. Riven recognised the woman called Caitlyn, she had been on her team during her first League match. She responded to Vi's handshake before drinking the rest of her drink.

"Yeah, I'm Riven. Nice to meet you." Riven's tone wasn't as cold or aloof as normal, most likely due to the alcohol.

"That's a lot of drinks you have there," The exile was surprised by the forwardness of the woman called Vi, "Anything you want to talk about?" Caitlyn cut her off by elbowing her in the side.

"I don't think that's any of our business, Vi." Caitlyn had said, her accent was a strange one. Not one that Riven had heard before.

"It's not but… I am sort of dealing with some issues at the moment, so you're not wrong."

"Of course I'm not!" The pink haired woman piped up, victorious while Caitlyn raised her eyebrow at her. Riven just chuckled at the squabbling between the two of them.

"You two might as well be married." Riven smirked at them, more so when she noticed Caitlyn blush slightly. Riven raised her hand, requesting more drinks from Miss Fortune.

"Must be a mighty big problem if you're drinking that much that fast." Vi wasn't going to let it go, clearly the curious type with no boundaries. Luckily, Riven was in a good mood due to the alcohol and willing to share.

"Yeah, I'm sort of stuck between a rock and hard place, I guess. There's someone I love and I can't be with them without major complications. Also being with this person may stop me from achieving my goals." Riven downed her fifth drink of the night, feeling drunker and more open with every sip or chug. She could hear Caitlyn thinking to herself in the background.

"Is this someone anyone we know?" The Sheriff asked.

"Yeah, something like that. Not only that, but there's someone else that I can be with, that I do want to be with, but I don't know if I can leave that other someone when there's a chance."

"Why don't you tell me the specifics then?" Caitlyn's curiosity and obsession with helping others clearly outlived Vi's, who was already talking to someone else.

"I'll need a few more drinks before that." Riven laughed, calling for more.

Twenty minutes and a few more drinks later, Riven decided to tell Caitlyn everything. "As you know I used to be the poster child for Noxus and the Noxian military," Caitlyn nodded along showing she was listening, "in that time, I fell in love with Katarina. Then the Ionian war happened and she thought I died while I became an exile by choice after seeing what I had seen. I decided that day to make my goal to return Noxus to its former glory. I wandered the Ionian country side for a while, not quite sure as to how I would even start with that goal until I finally got myself into the League as an independent champion. Which is when Katarina found out I was not only alive but I chose to leave Noxus and therefore her. It's not exactly like I could have told her that I was alive and that I left Noxus because of things that I saw that High Command chose to bury and hide from everyone including Katarina. I felt it was safer to say nothing. Now she knows the truth and that I love her. But to be with me, Katarina would have to betray Noxus and live in exile as well. I don't know if I could let her do that, to risk her own safety like that, especially when she's a member of a noble family. Since I got here, I met Irelia, who's been helping me and is so kind and I really like her but I can't commit to her without cutting things off with Katarina. Which I feel I should do as it's not safe but I don't know if I ca-." Eventually Riven's rambling was cut off by Caitlyn raising the palm of her hand.

"You don't need to say more, you're going around in circles now. It sounds like you're really stuck in a jam with this." Caitlyn paused, raising a finger to her own lips. "But I think you already know what you need to do."

Riven looked away, saddened to hear honesty from the brunette. She had really wanted to be told that she could have whatever she wanted, but of course, it doesn't work that way.

"Now, you're really drunk, so I'm going to help you back to your room. Vi! Come help me." She called Vi back from across the bar as she helped Riven off of her bar stool, leaving money on the counter to cover the drinks. The two women helped walk Riven out of the bar and back to the dorm, Caitlyn eventually having to take her keys and unlock Riven's door herself as Riven was too drunk to do it herself.

Riven flopped onto her bed. Caitlyn searched around, getting Riven a glass of water and some pain relief for tomorrow morning when Riven would wake up hungover. Caitlyn noticed how bare the dorm was, no decorations or personal touches in sight. The Sheriff got a fright when Katarina jumped out of the bathroom, wrapped only in a towel wielding her blade.

"What are you doing in here?" She growled at Caitlyn.

"I just helped Riven back from the bar, she was too drunk to make it back herself." She explained, gesturing to the now passed out Riven with her leg hanging off the bed. Katarina backed off and set her blade down.

"Thank you, but I'll take care of this from here." Caitlyn raised her eyebrow, before nodding in response, leaving the unconscious Riven with the assassin.


	12. Consequences of Drinking

Chapter 12: Consequences of Drinking

The assassin found her clothes and quickly got dressed after Caitlyn had left the room. Normally Katarina would be revelling at the sight of Riven drunk for the first time but she knew that there had to be a reason for Riven to get so drunk in the first place, most definitely a reason that Katarina wouldn't like to hear.

Katarina headed over to Riven, moving her slightly so she was no longer hanging half off the bed and then sat beside her, moving the exile's head into her lap. She sat with her for a couple of hours, stroking the side of Riven's head, savouring what would most likely be the last moments of being with her. She knew what would come next but didn't have the gall to sacrifice everything in order to stop it; she also knew Riven probably wouldn't let her. Eventually Katarina shook Riven slightly to wake her.

"Riven?" She asked as the exile stirred and opened her eyes.

"Yes?" She asked, obviously half asleep and probably still somewhat drunk.

"I figure you went and got yourself so drunk for a reason, and I figure that reason is that you've decided I'm not what you want. So I want you to just say it so I can leave." Riven frowned, she knew the aggressive tone was a front in hopes to prevent her own vulnerability from showing.

"It's not that I don't want you anymore, Katarina. It's that I can't be with you. I can't let you give up everything and possibly risk death just to be with me. Not when you survived on your own, thinking I was dead. It's better for you to move on to someone you can actually be with," Katarina slid herself off the end of the bed, standing to leave, "I'll probably always love you, you know." The assassin paused, reading the face of the exile before turning to leave. Riven caught a glimpse of sadness in Katarina's eyes, then the door slammed shut behind her. The noise of the door closing caused Riven to jump.

After a long period of wallowing in her own misery, the exile sat up, forcing herself off the bed, still somewhat unsteady. She drank the water left on her bedside table by Caitlyn, not sure whether it would actually help make her less drunk. Riven had never had much interest in alcohol, it dulled the senses and made it hard to protect yourself, but Riven had drank because she wasn't sure whether without it she would have been able to have the courage to do the right thing for herself and Katarina. The water, however sobering, didn't prevent Riven from deciding to go through with the idea that just entered her mind.

She opened her front door, headed down the main stairs and into the Ionian dorm floor which had no lights on, as most reasonable people were asleep. Riven knocked on Irelia's door and she saw the lights flick on with a groan coming from Irelia. The door opened, the Ionian woman's head popping out.

"Riven? What are you doing here? It's three in the morning."

"I know, can I come in?" Irelia raised her eyebrow, clearly annoyed to be woken up at such an hour but unable to hide the excitement she was feeling at the idea of a late night visit from Riven. She nodded in response, letting the exile in. Irelia caught the smell wafting from Riven as she entered the room.

"Are you drunk?"

"Yes, kind of."

"I didn't realise you were the drinking kind." She playfully ran her fingers along Riven's collar bone.

"I'm not really. I only drank to be able to end things with Katarina." Irelia's smirk, slowly turned into a frown.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I know that must have been hard to do." The dark haired woman's touched turned from flirtatious to comforting. Even if she were excited by the idea of an available Riven, she knew it must have been painful to split with someone you've been with for so long. "However, I'm not sorry to hear that you're available." She purred, trying to lighten Riven's spirits, earning herself a chuckle from the exile. That chuckle quickly faded, Riven began turning to leave Irelia's embrace.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come down here at this hour while drunk and bother you with my Katarina stuff, it's not fair on you." As Riven began to leave, Irelia pulled her back into a close hug.

"Even if it hurt me, I would want to be able to comfort you." She cupped Riven's cheek, running her thumb over the war paint on her cheek. She took the exile's hand and let her to the bed, lying down herself and patting the space in front of her, asking the exile to join her. Riven hesitated. "I'm not going to pounce on you while you're drunk and upset." Irelia rolled her eyes playfully as she said it.

Riven stripped herself of some of her extra pieces of clothing and laid down beside Irelia on the bed. Irelia dragged her finger tips lightly along Riven's jaw line when suddenly Riven was crying in front of her. The sudden emotional outburst surprised Irelia as she had never seen Riven be so expressive. Normally you get a slight smile or a slight blush or slight anger. Nothing more than slight anything. She pulled Riven in tightly, holding the exile's head against her chest as she cried. It hurt Irelia to see Riven crying, not just because she was crying about some other woman but because she didn't want to see her so upset by anything.

Eventually Riven stopped crying, falling asleep in Irelia's embrace, Irelia falling asleep shortly after. However Irelia's sleep was short lived, she was woken up by Riven's flailing and panicking in her sleep, having some kind of nightmare. Irelia tried a few different things to calm her including waking her up but the only thing that seemed to soothe the nightmare was holding Riven.

Riven woke up the next day in Irelia's tight embrace, she lay there for a brief moment, not really wanting to wake up Irelia. Eventually she caved into her need for a drink of water and woke up the Ionian.

"Irelia?" She said while jostling her slightly.

"Mmm?" Irelia replied, her eyes still closed.

"Can you let me go so I can get a drink of water?" The Ionian opened her eyes and blushed slightly, letting go of her. She hadn't realised that she had kept holding onto Riven throughout the night. She watched as Riven walked into the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water.

"Do you always move so much while having nightmares?" It was Riven's turn to blush.

"I didn't know I moved at all really, haven't slept beside someone since they became a thing for me." She began sipping at her glass.

"You have them every night?" Irelia asked, concerned.

"Not every night, just most nights."

"What are they about?" Riven hesitated to answer.

"I wouldn't normally talk about this with anyone, but if I'm going to spend more time with you like this, I guess you should know. I have nightmares about having my flesh being melted off by Singed's poison, watching my men die and other stuff from the war in Ionia." Irelia frowned, she hadn't realised that Riven was so haunted by what happened to her and her own actions in the war in Ionia. She hadn't thought that she was a monster by any means, but she hadn't realised it plagued the exile so much.

"Are the chemical burns under all those bandages you constantly wear?" Riven nodded as her response. "Do they still hurt?"

"Sometimes, I wear the bandages not only to hide them but to prevent them rubbing against my clothing, it chafes and hurts otherwise. Sometimes they hurt regardless of wearing bandages."

"I may have something to help. Take your clothes off and come here." Riven's face went bright red. The woman in front of her had always been forward, but never quite that forward. She hesitated, not sure whether Irelia was serious in her command. Irelia saw this and met her concern with a pat to the mattress, gesturing for her to come.

"You sure about that?"

"Yes, I have a healing balm that might improve your scarring. Last time I checked, I need to be able to get to the scars to be able to do anything with it. So take your clothes off." Her authoritative tone caused a surge of arousal through Riven as she finally gave into her command, removing her shirt and bandages in front of Irelia. She stood there, topless as Irelia ran her eyes up and down the exile with a subtle lick of her lips. She patted the mattress again, getting Riven to move to her. Riven laid down on her front beside Irelia.

The dark haired woman grabbed the healing balm from her bedside table and straddled Riven's waist, opening the container in her hands. Riven blushed hard, hiding in the pillow, she was partly aroused and partly embarrassed to have Irelia see her scars. She jumped slightly as she felt Irelia's finger drag the balm along one of the large scars in the middle of her back. She heard Irelia chuckle slightly.

"You're a bit sensitive I see," The Ionian remarked as she rubbed in the balm along the scars on Riven's back and shoulders. She smirked as she noticed that Riven was desperately trying to hide her face in the pillow, "Am I turning you on, Riven?" The exile blushed harder, refusing to answer the question as Irelia already knew the answer, "Unfortunately for you, you'll have to take me on a date first."

What a sadist, Riven thought.


	13. Irelia's Command

Chapter 13: Irelia's Command

Riven had fallen into such a weird mental void with Irelia's hands working on her back and shoulders that she almost didn't hear the knock at the door.

"Come in." Irelia said, as if she had forgotten that she was straddling a half-naked Riven. Soraka, the Star Child responded by opening the door, giving a slight laugh at the sight in front of her.

"I didn't think you'd be able to bed her so fast, Irelia." Riven's face turned a deep crimson as she felt Soraka's eyes on her. Irelia smirked at Soraka.

"It's not quite like that. I'm using some healing balm on her scars to see if it helps." She could feel Soraka eyeing the scars on her back, making her the third person to ever see her scars. Riven was ashamed of them and would usually keep them covered even when alone.

"What is it?" Riven heard Lux's voice pipe up as she entered the room, if Riven's face could get any more red it would have. She buried her face into the pillow in front of her in embarrassment, "Irelia, that was fast." Irelia just rolled her eyes in response.

"Step outside for a moment guys." Irelia waited until they were alone again before stepping off Riven and the bed, letting the exile up, "Sorry, I forgot that I had invited them over for lunch." She picked up Riven's bandages off the floor and handed them too her. Riven put them back on with practiced efficiency then put her shirt on. Irelia opened the door, letting Lux and Soraka back inside the dorm. Once they were back inside, Riven had taken that as her cue to leave.

"Where are you going?" Lux asked.

"Riven, stay for lunch, please?" Riven's heart melted at the way Irelia said that, making her want to give the woman anything she could ever ask for. She turned away from the door and sat down at the table with Lux and Soraka while Irelia worked away in the kitchen. She remained largely silent as Soraka and Lux chatted away with Irelia dropping in a comment or two every now and then. Riven's mind drifted off as she thought about other things.

"So tell me about yourself Riven." Lux's voice brought Riven back to reality.

"Don't you already know everything about me? I thought you were some kind of spy before joining the League." Riven gave a slight smirk.

"Well, I know everything that's available in the file about you, but there's so much that's left out of it. I never spied on you personally."

"What do you want to know?" She caved to Lux's request. She figured she might as well tell her at least some of what she wanted to hear; Lux didn't seem like the kind to give up asking or finding out the answers for herself.

"What's your last name?"

"Don't have one." She responded, bluntly.

"You don't have a last name?" Riven shook her head. This seemed to also surprise Irelia by the lack of noises coming from the kitchen, "Why not?" Riven hesitated for a moment before caving once again.

"I'm an orphan. No family so therefore no family name." Lux frowned.

"So that's why your file has no information prior to you joining the military academy?" Riven nodded. "So why doesn't it have your birthday in it either?"

"Don't have one. I was too young when I was abandoned to know what my birthday was but too old for them to guess when it was. They assigned me a random birthday at the orphanage because everyone else had one but I didn't bother keeping it after I left, didn't think there was a point." Soraka had a look of pity on her face and Lux looked like she was on the verge of crying which puzzled Riven, "You okay?"

"It's just so sad!" The blonde responded, sniffling. She caught Riven's puzzled expression, "You don't think so?"

"Not really. Can't be upset about something you never had." She shrugged slightly.

"So what was the birthday the orphanage gave you?" Irelia piped up from the kitchen as she carried out the food she had been making, placing the plates on the table in front of the women.

"October 12th if I remember correctly." She said as she began reaching for some of the food. Irelia smacked her hand correctively while passing her a fork. Riven flushed with slight embarrassment.

"That's next week. We'll have to do something for you."

"No don't worry about that. I don't do that sort of thing."

"But I want to." Irelia insisted.

"It'll be fun." Soraka reassured.

"Okay." Riven said, uncertain. She placed some of the food in her mouth, her eyes rolling at the pleasure caused by the taste, "I didn't know you could cook." She said when she had finished her mouthful.

"Yeah, it's one of my many skills that you are yet to know about." Riven smiled slightly at the idea of future plans with Irelia.

"So how long have you had those scars?" It was Soraka's turn to be nosey, apparently.

"Like seven years I guess." Soraka nodded, putting the time together with the Ionian war.

"Singed's Poison?" Riven nodded, "Have you ever received treatment for the wounds?"

"Nah, couldn't afford help afterwards and it wasn't safe to do so. Then after a while I figured it was probably too late to do anything about them."

"Come by my room sometime, I'll see if I can help you." She was surprised by everyone wanting to get to know her and help her. The closest thing she had experienced to this was Cassiopeia shoving her way into Katarina and Riven's relationship but that was out of her own self-interest, being an insatiable gossip.

"Thanks." She felt Irelia's hand on her knee under the table, out of sight of the two women in front of them.

After another hour of much more pleasant small talk and picking away at the food Irelia had made them, Soraka and Lux had finally decided to leave. Riven stood up from her chair moments later, about to follow them out and go back to her own dorm.

"Where do you think you're going?" Irelia purred as she grabbed some of Riven's t-shirt and slammed her back against the wall beside the door. Riven was flustered by this move, feeling aroused at the authoritative tone.

"I-I thought you wanted to wait until I took you out." She stammered slightly. She felt Irela's knee slide between her legs.

"I did. Until I saw how cute you were at lunch, then I couldn't resist." She began kissing at Riven's neck. Riven's breathing picked up slightly as she became more aroused with every kiss and every touch Irelia decided to give her, "Now, I'm guessing you don't mind your partner's being a little… rough?" Riven swallowed hard.

"No."

"Good," She purred as she bit down on Riven's neck, smirking as she heard give out a little gasp of pleasure, "I like being in charge, so you better listen to every instruction I give you." Riven felt heat well up in her crotch, "Will you behave for me?" She said against Riven's neck.

"Yes." She managed to force out in response as she felt Irelia's hand slide up her shirt.

"Ma'am." Irelia said correctively.

"Yes ma'am." Riven corrected herself accordingly. She felt Irelia undoing her bandages from inside her shirt then cup her bare breast, her other hand in her hair, pulling hard exposing her neck and collarbone as she sunk her teeth in hard. Riven whimpered in pleasure. Irelia began playing with her nipple, causing Riven to start grinding up against the leg between hers.

"Stay still." Irelia commanded. Riven whimpered again, this time in desperation. "If you behave, I just might see fit to reward you." Irelia removed her top, tossing it on the floor beside them, leaving Riven shirtless. With quick, nimble fingers, Irelia removed Riven's pants, leaving her only in her underwear. "On the bed." She commanded.

She followed Irelia's instructions as soon as the dark haired woman let her step away from the wall. Every time Irelia used that voice, Riven could feel her pulse throb in her crotch. "On your hands and knees." She said when Riven got to the bed.

Riven climbed onto the bed, on her hands and knees as Irelia commanded and waited as she heard Irelia rifle through a draw behind her. She didn't dare to sneak a look to see what Irelia was doing, she wanted to be rewarded.

"You're no stranger to pain, are you love?" Irelia questioned as she ran something through her fingers.

"No ma'am."

"Good, thought so." She smirked to herself, thinking about the blade marks left behind by Katarina. I can do much better than that, Irelia thought to herself. She stepped towards the bed, placing a hand on Riven's lower back, steading the exile. She paused before starting, "Know that if I hear stop, wait or slow down, I will." Riven's heart melted a little at the idea of Irelia being concerned for well-being or enjoyment. Katarina had never really been like that.

"Thank you, ma'am."

CRACK. Riven jumped slightly at the pain on her thighs as a leather belt connected with them. It hurt but boy, did it turn her on. Irelia paused, listening to see if Riven was okay. Five seconds later. CRACK. Riven was becoming more wet with every strike. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. Irelia was picking up the pace, smirking as she realised how much Riven was enjoying being struck by her. The strikes began connecting every second, alternating thighs. Riven's mind entered a meditative state as she pushed through the pain, revelling in the pleasure the strikes gave her. She eventually lost count until the striking stopped.

"Do you know how many strikes that was?" Riven shook her head, "Thirty." Irelia smirked, clearly pleased that Riven could push through such substantial punishment. Riven swallowed hard. Touch me goddamnit, she thought as Irelia ran her fingers along the marks on her thighs.

"Fuck me already." Escaped Riven's lips before she could stop herself. Irelia chuckled a cruel laugh.

"Today, I'll forgive that. In the future, it'll earn you more strikes. I'll have to train that out of you." She began sliding Riven's underwear off. Fuck yes, touch me damn it, Riven thought. She groaned as she felt Irelia's touch disappear as she went back to the draw she had rifled through before. "Be patient, or I'll have to punish you." Irelia said coldly.

Riven heard the jingle of handcuffs as Irelia stood beside her head, at the top of the bed. She took Riven's wrists, handcuffing them to the bedframe, she was unable to escape. Irelia dragged her finger slowly around the edge of Riven's thighs, teasing her.

"Goddamnit, fuck me." Just as she finished her outburst, she felt the belt connect with her thigh once more. Then again. And again. She moaned at the pleasure caused just by being struck by Irelia. She was caught by surprise when Irelia finally stopped teasing her, rubbing her thumb on Riven's clit. "Hn, hafuck." She could almost feel the smirk occurring behind her.

She felt two fingers enter her, while another worked away at her clit, circling hard. Riven was so aroused by this point, she didn't believe she would last long under Irelia's touch and command. She was right; it wasn't long before she came. Crying out Irelia's name, then slumping down against the bed. Her breathing was heavy and laboured as Irelia undid the cuffs holding Riven's wrists in front of her head. Once free, Riven rolled over onto her back. After Irelia placed her torture devices back in the draw she got them from, she lay beside Riven, pulling her into an embrace.

"How was that?" Riven waited until she caught her breath before responding.

"I think you know by that smirk on your face." Irelia just chuckled as her response, running her fingers along Riven's scarred cheek.


	14. First Date

Chapter 14: First Date

Riven slowly opened her eyes, waking up from her nap with her head rested on Irelia's chest. She looked up at Irelia who had her eyes glued to the pages of the book she was holding.

"Irelia? What're you reading?" She smiled up at Irelia as she broke her focus on the page, moving it to Riven's face.

"Nothing really, just some fiction novel I got from the library," The dark haired woman's expression changed from a gentle smile to a mischievous smirk, "You were out for a long time, was I just that good?" Riven blushed instantly, ready to defend herself.

"N-No, I just hadn't slept well is all."

"I'm only teasing. You know, for someone so mysterious and aloof, you sure do get so easily flustered." Riven blushed more as Irelia pressed her lips to her forehead. "Anyway, get up and get dressed, you owe me dinner Riven." She began getting up off the bed as Irelia had commanded her but paused before stepping off.

"I owe you dinner?" She quirked her eyebrow at the Ionian.

"Yes, we were meant to wait until after our first dinner date before, you know. But since we failed to do that, you owe me dinner." Riven laughed as she finally got off the bed and picked her clothes off the floor.

"As far as I remember, you said nothing would happen until after our date and then hours later, you broke your own instructions."

"Well, if you want another taste of that any time soon, you better take me out to dinner." Irelia retorted, trying to keep control of the conversation, even if Riven were right.

"Alright, alright." Riven conceded as she got dressed. She paused before putting her shirt back on. "Actually, I'm gunna take a shower first." Irelia waved her off, gesturing for her to be quick about it before going back to her fiction novel.

Riven quickly took her shower in Irelia's bathroom. She used her girlfriend's shampoo and soap to clean herself, removing the war paint on her face. Girlfriend? Could she call Irelia that yet? She wondered. As she washed herself, her eyes examined the bathroom, thinking about Irelia. Irelia certainly had made more personal touches to her dorm room than Riven had. She had pictures, Ionian wall decorations and heaps of personal belongings around her room and bathroom. Riven on the other hand had nothing in her room other than what was absolutely necessary. She just had her clothes, her armour and sword, food and her toiletries in her room. Everything else was either unused or barely used.

She stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself as she dried off her hair and began getting dressed. She instinctively looked for her pot of war paint before remembering that this wasn't her bathroom. Irelia hadn't seen Riven's face without paint before, this was going to be interesting. Once she got dressed, she unlocked the door and hung the towel over the edge of Irelia's washing basket.

Irelia closed her book, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed in order to stand up though she paused when she saw Riven's face. Even though Irelia knew what would most likely be under the war paint that was on Riven's face every day, she hadn't really thought about what the chemical burn on her face would look like. She curled her finger, gesturing for Riven to come to her.

Riven walked towards Irelia who was still sitting on the edge of the bed, stopping just before Irelia's knees. She felt the Ionian's soft hand on her cheek where the war paint had just been, rubbing her finger along the scar, pulling Riven's face down slightly to be closer to her. Irelia pressed her lips to it, making Riven blush slightly.

"You're beautiful." She heard Irelia murmur. That wasn't an adjective that Riven was used to hearing in reference to herself.

"I think you're the only person to ever say that about me of all people." She chuckled, nervous and insecure. Irelia stood up, removing her hand from Riven's face.

"Come on Commander, time to take me to dinner." Riven's breath hitched in her throat slightly, no one had called her by Commander since she left the military several years ago, since then it was exile this and exile that. Irelia took Riven's hand, leading her out the door of the dorm and down the stairs.

The pair eventually decided to go to Gragas' bar as it was cheap and easy. Riven followed Irelia through the front door of the bar when she spotted Miss Fortune behind the bar. She wasn't sure whether Miss Fortune knew about what had happened between her and Katarina, but she probably did. That might make things uncomfortable, she thought. The bar was packed; almost all the tables and seats at the bar were taken by the champions of the league. Irelia managed to find one of the last remaining tables and sat down as Riven headed up to the bar to order food and drink for them.

"What do you want?" Miss Fortune asked Riven bluntly. She knew.

"Uh, can I get two brandy's and two plates of hot wings." She pulled out her wallet, removing cash from it and holding it out to Miss Fortune. Miss Fortune paused for a minute, her eyes drifting to the exposed scar on Riven's face; she hadn't reapplied the war paint. Eventually she took the money from Riven, giving her a table number in return.

Riven sat across from Irelia, smiling at her. She was feeling uncomfortable after her exchange with Miss Fortune up at the bar, but she didn't want to ruin Irelia's dinner. Suddenly she felt Irelia's fingers running up her inner thigh under the table.

"You know," she purred at Riven, "You should go without the war paint more often, it's hot." Riven blushed slightly at the sexual advances being made in public.

"You're not anything like what I expected you to be Irelia."

"Oh?" She quirked an eyebrow at Riven, a slight smirk pulling at the corner of her lips.

"I never expected you to be quite so forward. Don't get me wrong, I like it. I'm just surprised."

"You don't have to be Noxian to know how to take what you want." Her lips curved into a full smirk this time. Riven felt Irelia's hand pull away from her inner thigh as Miss Fortune arrived at their table, drinks in hand.

Miss Fortune disrespectfully dumped the glasses in front of them, not aggressively enough to spill them, but enough to make her point to Riven. Riven looked away from both the women in front of her, ashamed. Miss Fortune was very good at making her feel guilty. Irelia waited for the red head to leave them alone before speaking up.

"Everything alright?" Riven wanted to just brush off Irelia, to keep her problems to herself. She didn't want to share the guilt she felt about Katarina. She saw the look of worry in Irelia's eyes and thought better of it, answering her.

"Miss Fortune is really close to Katarina, I figure she knows I left Katarina and that I'm with you now. She seems to be trying to make me feel guilty, though she doesn't really need to as I already do."

"Want me to handle her?" Riven instantly shook her head.

"No, it'll just make things worse. No need to have my girlfriend fight my battles for me." She smiled slightly before turning bright red, realising she had referred to Irelia as her girlfriend.

"Girlfriend?" Riven was looking away in embarrassment, but she could hear the smirk in Irelia's voice, "I'm glad to hear that you feel the same way about me, Commander." Riven wondered whether Irelia was going to use her former title often.

The moment between the pair was interrupted when Miss Fortune returned with the hot wings that she had ordered. The plates were dumped in front of them. Riven expected Miss Fortune to disappear in a huff, like she had done with their drinks, but she lingered. Clearly she had something to say to Riven. Riven made eye contact with the red head, waiting for whatever it was that Miss Fortune had to say to them.

"You're a real piece of work, you know that?" Miss Fortune paused slightly, only slightly, thinking that Riven was going to defend herself but Riven ended up surprising her.

"I know." Miss Fortune opened her mouth, clearly about to continue her rant before she paused.

"You know?"

"Yes," There was a silence between the two of them before Riven continued, "How is she?" Miss Fortune eyed her, wanting to see whether the concern Riven was showing was genuine.

"Not good, obviously. Clearly you're doing okay considering you've already moved on though."

"It's not like that, but you can be angry at me if you want." Miss Fortune eyed her once more, giving her a glare before stepping away from Irelia and Riven. Riven turned to Irelia, "Sorry about that, sorry for ruining our dinner."

"No it's fine, you alright?" Riven nodded before starting to pick at the wings on the plate in front of her. After a few moments of silence, Riven decided to change the topic.

"So, you know a lot more about me than I know about you, tell me about yourself."

"What do you want to know?" Irelia asked before biting in the food in front of her.

"Do you have any family?" Irelia shook her head as her initial response as she swallowed her food.

"No, they're all dead." She said bluntly, clearly with an edge of sadness to it.

"I see, sorry to hear about that," Riven paused for a moment before coming up with another question, "So, why do your blades always follow you around like that?" She asked, pointing to the blades hovering beside Irelia's leg, under the table. Irelia put her food done, preparing to give a long answer.

"You see, that's something I need to talk to you about. Something I probably should have disclosed sooner," Riven watched, waiting for Irelia to continue, "I'm technically dead. I died during the Noxian invasion however; Soraka bound my soul to my father's blades that I had been using during the invasion."

"So your soul is in that?" Riven asked, pointing at the blades. Irelia simply nodded, watching Riven's expression, hoping that she would be okay with the information she was just given. Riven's hesitation made Irelia panic.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner, I understand if you feel deceived. I understand if you don't want to be with me after finding out about my status." She quickly said, hoping to recover for her failure to inform Riven of the truth. Riven looked puzzled.

"Nah, I'm not bothered by either of those things, I'm just surprised. Of all the stories I heard in Ionia, I hadn't expected that one to be the one that was true. I figured the guys I overheard were making it up, some sort of story that would comfort Ionians who were afraid of being invaded again."

"So you're not bothered by it?"

"Nah, I'm glad actually."

"Glad?" It was Irelia's turn to look puzzled.

"Yeah, now I know you're not perfect." She smirked at Irelia, "Makes me feel a little better about myself." Irelia rolled her eyes, giving Riven a little shove across the table.


	15. The End

Chapter 15: The End

Following their date, Riven had gone upstairs to her dorm in order to gather some of her things. Irelia had invited to stay in her dorm for the next while, though she didn't know how long for. Irelia seemed to really like having her around and already wanted her to be spending more time with her which Riven took as a good sign. She wasn't exactly sure where this was going though, it made her nervous to not be sure as to what her future held but she liked Irelia enough to take the risk.

While Riven was upstairs, Katarina took the chance to knock on Irelia's door. She had waited for the two to separate so she could speak to Irelia alone. She heard Irelia's voice through the door.

"Riven? You're back already? You know that you don't have to knock right?" Irelia opened the door to find Katarina standing there, not Riven as she had expected, "Katarina? What're you doing here?"

"Can I come in for a second?" Irelia hesitated, raising her eyebrow in a questioning manner.

"No, I'm not here to murder you; I just want to talk to you about Riven." Irelia stepped aside, letting Katarina into her room.

"If you're here to tell me to back off, just know that-" Irelia started before Katarina raised her hand, cutting her off.

"I'm not here for that. Would I rather that she be with me? Yes. But that's not possible so, I'm here to tell you to take care of Riven." Irelia was surprised by Katarina, she hadn't expected her to be the kind of person to care for others, or at least not enough to hope they find happiness with someone else. "I just want her to be happy and if that's with you, then fine."

"I'll take care of her; you didn't need to come here to tell me that."

"I know I didn't. I just wanted to anyway. But if you hurt her, know that I'll kill you myself." She smirked slightly, though it had a touch of sadness to it before she turned and left Irelia's dorm.

A minute or two later, Riven arrived back at Irelia's dorm, carrying her clothes and most of her stuff.

"I hope you don't mind, but I basically brought everything I own with me."

"That's all you own?" She eyed the box of stuff in Riven's arms.

"Yeah, I don't own much."

"That's good, gives me a chance to buy you things for your birthday." She smiled at Riven. She decided to not say anything about Katarina's appearance in her dorm. "Give me a few minutes and I'll clear some space in my closet for you."

"You're gunna make space for my stuff? I thought I would just leave my stuff in this box, there's not much of it."

"I can't have my girlfriend living out of a box now, can I?" Riven smiled lovingly at Irelia as Irelia began clearing out some closet space for Riven's stuff.


	16. Author's Note

Author's Note

So that's the end of this story for now. I have plans to write a prequel and a sequel to this I think. Prequel showing Riven's relationship with Katarina before the Noxian invasion and a sequel to show Riven's relationship with Irelia long term. Don't be afraid to leave some feedback for me, what you liked or didn't like so I can improve in future. Thank you for reading!


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